Welcome to the 'Teaching for Understanding (TfU) with Technology' Wiki!
The content of this wiki will be organized by modules. Each module will contain elements of 'Teaching for Understanding with Technology'. The goal is for you to gain understanding about not only the use of technology in your BVU classroom but also that you become more intentional about teaching for understanding.
Each module should take about 5 hours to complete. Modules will include readings, templates, examples, and//or audio links as well as time for you to become familiar with technology tools. There will be time to reflect on what this learning means in terms of your classroom teaching. Ultimately the goal is to choose technology tools that increase the opportunity for students to understand concepts and to share your experiences through the wiki.
Each module will be located on a page noted on the left-hand side of this page.
All modules will do the following:
Develop your understanding of 'Teaching for Understanding' by reading, viewing, and/or listening.
Build your skills in determining appropriate technology tools to use in planning, instruction, and assessment.
Reflect on the use of various technology tools to support conceptual development within units.
Some modules will do the following:
Design units using what you have learned in Teaching for Understanding and skills with technology tools.
Thanks for joining TfU with Technology!
Teaching for Understanding
Teaching for understanding is leading students to engage in a variety of thought-provoking activities such as explaining, finding evidence and examples, generalizing, applying, making analogies, and representing the topic in new ways. Grant Wiggins (1998) states, ―Understanding is not just about coverage of knowledge… but about uncoverage—being introduced to new ideas and being asked to think more deeply and more carefully about facts, ideas, experiences, and theories previously encountered and learned. Teachers who teach for understanding facilitate 1) the construction of deep conceptual and procedural knowledge, 2) the development of representations and conceptual models, 3) the induction of students into the discipline, and 4) the application of learnings and understandings in new and novel situations (transfer) (Wiggins, 1998).
MODULE 1: Teaching for Understanding
Task 1: REFLECT
Before beginning the module open the following document and begin by adding your thoughts to the sentence stem related to Teaching for Typical Content Mastery. As you move through the module add your thoughts for the stem Teaching for Understanding. You will be prompted each time you are to make a reflective entry. Please date each entry and save as a Word document on your own computer.
1. Read: Teaching for Understanding by David Perkins. When you complete the reading reflect on the Module 1-Reflection document. Be sure to reflect to the stem in the Teaching for Understanding part of the document. Refer to actual parts of, quotes from, or pages of the reading whenever needed in your reflection.
2. Read: Introduction to "Technology in Classrooms That Work." When you complete the reading reflect on the Module 1-Reflection document. Be sure to reflect to the stem in the Teaching for Understanding part of the document. When you reflect on the stem really think about this article and how it relates to your first reading on understanding. What are the connections? What is said in each that helps you understand more clearly 'teaching for understanding' vs 'typical mastery of content?'
Symbaloo is an organizational tool that is visual in nature. It is a powerful web tool for organizing personal web information as well as a way to organize classroom assignments. There are loads of possibilities and you are going to experince Symbaloo as you proceed through the steps and links below.
Remember....the goal of this experience is to determine if Symbaloo would be a tool for your own use as you teach, if it is a way for you to share links with students, or if it is a useful tool but you would not use it or ask students to use it.
Think about your readings from above as you learn about Symbaloo. How could it improve understanding of concepts, how could it involve students, and/or what is there about it that makes it so you would never use it personally or with students?
1. Watch the following 2 videos to get an overview of Symbaloo.
2. Set up a Symbaloo account by clicking on this link: Symbaloo home page On this page, click on the orange exclamation point in the upper right corner of the page to set up a new account. Be sure to record your account information for further use.
Populate your "Home" webmix with at least 12 tiles of your choosing
Search for (and add) 1 premade webmix in your curricular area for your own resource
Search for (and add) 1 premade webmix for your students to use as a resource
Share your "Home" webmix with Barb Kruthoff (kruthoffb@bvu.edu)
To complete the bulleted items above you will need to use both the Symbaloo User Guide and Tutorial.
Reflect after completing the webmix work listed above.
Sum it Up-Final Reflection
Your last reflection entry will require you to think through your readings and your work with Symbaloo. How could you use Symbaloo in your planning and implementing of instruction? How could students use Symbaloo? What additional help will you need to use this tool? What will be the reason you would not use it?
This reflection is not meant to pressure you to use the tool but to cause you to think about the instructional reasons you would or would not use it.
Finally, submit your reflection document to me at kruthoffb@bvu.edu and I will respond to your comments and reflections. I will use this as a way to communicate with you about your thinking as you work through this module.
Next Module
The next module will continue developing your understanding of Teaching for Understanding. You will also learn how to use another organizational tool called Diigo. Much like Symbaloo it is a place to store sites, articles, and information, etc. It looks and operates differently than Symbaloo and the goal is for you to have enough knowledge about Teaching for Understanding with Technology that you can wisely select tools that enhance the opportunity of students to understand concepts. Diigo allows you to also save articles, highlight in those articles, and add notes. In addition, you will also explore 2-3 other Web 2.0 tools.
We are excited for you to continue your learning!! -Barb
Welcome to the 'Teaching for Understanding (TfU) with Technology' Wiki!The content of this wiki will be organized by modules. Each module will contain elements of 'Teaching for Understanding with Technology'. The goal is for you to gain understanding about not only the use of technology in your BVU classroom but also that you become more intentional about teaching for understanding.
Each module should take about 5 hours to complete. Modules will include readings, templates, examples, and//or audio links as well as time for you to become familiar with technology tools. There will be time to reflect on what this learning means in terms of your classroom teaching. Ultimately the goal is to choose technology tools that increase the opportunity for students to understand concepts and to share your experiences through the wiki.
Each module will be located on a page noted on the left-hand side of this page.
All modules will do the following:
- Develop your understanding of 'Teaching for Understanding' by reading, viewing, and/or listening.
- Build your skills in determining appropriate technology tools to use in planning, instruction, and assessment.
- Reflect on the use of various technology tools to support conceptual development within units.
Some modules will do the following:Thanks for joining TfU with Technology!
Teaching for Understanding
Teaching for understanding is leading students to engage in a variety of thought-provoking activities such as explaining, finding evidence and examples, generalizing, applying, making analogies, and representing the topic in new ways. Grant Wiggins (1998) states, ―Understanding is not just about coverage of knowledge… but about uncoverage—being introduced to new ideas and being asked to think more deeply and more carefully about facts, ideas, experiences, and theories previously encountered and learned. Teachers who teach for understanding facilitate 1) the construction of deep conceptual and procedural knowledge, 2) the development of representations and conceptual models, 3) the induction of students into the discipline, and 4) the application of learnings and understandings in new and novel situations (transfer) (Wiggins, 1998).
MODULE 1: Teaching for Understanding
Task 1: REFLECT
Task 2: DEVELOP YOUR UNDERSTANDING
1. Read: Teaching for Understanding by David Perkins. When you complete the reading reflect on the Module 1-Reflection document. Be sure to reflect to the stem in the Teaching for Understanding part of the document. Refer to actual parts of, quotes from, or pages of the reading whenever needed in your reflection.2. Read: Introduction to "Technology in Classrooms That Work." When you complete the reading reflect on the Module 1-Reflection document. Be sure to reflect to the stem in the Teaching for Understanding part of the document. When you reflect on the stem really think about this article and how it relates to your first reading on understanding. What are the connections? What is said in each that helps you understand more clearly 'teaching for understanding' vs 'typical mastery of content?'
Task 3: BUILD YOUR SKILLS
Symbaloo in the Classroom
Symbaloo is an organizational tool that is visual in nature. It is a powerful web tool for organizing personal web information as well as a way to organize classroom assignments. There are loads of possibilities and you are going to experince Symbaloo as you proceed through the steps and links below.Remember....the goal of this experience is to determine if Symbaloo would be a tool for your own use as you teach, if it is a way for you to share links with students, or if it is a useful tool but you would not use it or ask students to use it.
Think about your readings from above as you learn about Symbaloo. How could it improve understanding of concepts, how could it involve students, and/or what is there about it that makes it so you would never use it personally or with students?
1. Watch the following 2 videos to get an overview of Symbaloo.
2. Set up a Symbaloo account by clicking on this link: Symbaloo home page On this page, click on the orange exclamation point in the upper right corner of the page to set up a new account. Be sure to record your account information for further use.
3. Using this file: Symbaloo-user-guide.pdf and video: Tutorial to do the following tasks:
- Populate your "Home" webmix with at least 12 tiles of your choosing
- Search for (and add) 1 premade webmix in your curricular area for your own resource
- Search for (and add) 1 premade webmix for your students to use as a resource
- Share your "Home" webmix with Barb Kruthoff (kruthoffb@bvu.edu)
To complete the bulleted items above you will need to use both the Symbaloo User Guide and Tutorial.Reflect after completing the webmix work listed above.
Sum it Up-Final Reflection
Your last reflection entry will require you to think through your readings and your work with Symbaloo. How could you use Symbaloo in your planning and implementing of instruction? How could students use Symbaloo? What additional help will you need to use this tool? What will be the reason you would not use it?This reflection is not meant to pressure you to use the tool but to cause you to think about the instructional reasons you would or would not use it.
Finally, submit your reflection document to me at kruthoffb@bvu.edu and I will respond to your comments and reflections. I will use this as a way to communicate with you about your thinking as you work through this module.
Next Module
The next module will continue developing your understanding of Teaching for Understanding. You will also learn how to use another organizational tool called Diigo. Much like Symbaloo it is a place to store sites, articles, and information, etc. It looks and operates differently than Symbaloo and the goal is for you to have enough knowledge about Teaching for Understanding with Technology that you can wisely select tools that enhance the opportunity of students to understand concepts. Diigo allows you to also save articles, highlight in those articles, and add notes. In addition, you will also explore 2-3 other Web 2.0 tools.We are excited for you to continue your learning!! -Barb